Letters: Actions of Keller, Thompson can’t be forgotten; Fixing education system critical to PA’s well-being
Actions of Keller, Thompson can’t be forgotten
Recently the nation paused to remember the horrific attack on American democracy, which took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Who was absent from those commemorative ceremonies? Centre County’s own congressmen, Fred Keller and Glenn Thompson, plus all other Republicans, with the exception of Rep. Liz Chaney (WY-1). This was indeed embarrassing and flies in the face of claims that Keller and Thompson are working on behalf of the citizens of their districts.
We must remember that both Keller and Thompson were two of the 147 Republicans in the House of Representatives who on that day voted to overturn Electoral College certification of the rightfully elected president and vice president of the United States. Their seditious actions occurred after the Capitol was stormed, property was destroyed, lives were threatened, persons were killed and injured, and the processes of democracy were disrupted.
Why would anyone possibly vote to return Keller and Thompson to office? These two sham representatives will soon be running for reelection in districts that have been configured to remain Republican. All voters residing in the 12th and 15th Pennsylvania congressional districts must deny them their votes. All individuals, organizations, businesses, and corporations that make political contributions must withhold all campaign funds for these two. They have failed their biennial performance reviews.
Fixing education system critical to PA’s well-being
Pennsylvania is currently being sued for failure to provide adequate funding to ensure a “thorough and efficient” education to all students, as required by our state Constitution.
At one time, 50% of education funding came from the state, but over the past two decades legislative commitment to education has eroded, forcing districts to make up the difference, mostly through property taxes. That’s fine for students in wealthy communities, but it’s crippling for students in low-wealth school districts.
Even worse, our Republican legislators aren’t in court denying that students in lower-income and rural districts are being shortchanged; instead, the defense council for President Pro Tempore Jake Corman questions whether students who will eventually be working at McDonald’s even need to learn Algebra 1.
Our lawmakers aren’t in court to fix our broken funding system; they’re in court defending it!
Corman and his Republican legislature are essentially saying it’s OK for more than half of PA’s school districts — 277 districts in all — to be so underfunded that they can’t offer students a 21st century education.
Anyone with an education knows that education is absolutely essential to the individual and collective well-being of our state — and our nation!
Ulysses S. Grant’s words 170 years ago ring true today: “If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon’s, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side — and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other.”
Lawmaker’s broken oath
On the day I graduated Penn State, I raised my right hand and swore an oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” I said those words as my Second Lieutenant’s bar was pinned to my collar and the obligations incumbent on an officer fell on my shoulders.
I did not swear my loyalty to something so easily corrupted as a human being. Every commissioned officer swears the same oath. The power of an oath is to guide and steel us for the common good in service to the nation, sometimes in the face of seemingly overwhelming power.
Rep. Scott Perry (a retired Brigadier General in the PA National Guard) swore the same oath. The oath Perry took on becoming a member of the House of Representatives is nearly identical. And yet, when the obligations of that oath rested heavy on his shoulders, he came up short, voting to block the certification of the 2020 election based on the words of Donald Trump that the election had been stolen, an accusation made lacking any credible evidence in support. Imagine if every election was subject to being overturned sans evidence and based on nothing more than the pronouncement of the loser?
The three watchwords taught to every cadet hoping to be an officer in the U.S. military are Duty, Honor, and Country. Representative Perry, you failed on all three tests. You failed us.